Top Five Books in the First Half of 2019

With June 2019 written into the annals of history, it’s time to reflect on the first half of the year and give a recap of my favourite books to date. Unlike the end of the year, when I only include books released in 2019, this can be a book I read in 2019, but was released in 1819. Feel free to mention your own favourites. Here goes, order is from last to first:

1. Bloody Rose (review) by Nicholas Eames – The sequel/not a sequel to the awesome Kings of the Wyld, is similar in many ways – the humour, the world – but couldn’t be more different in others. Still, the one consistency is the beating heart that runs through both stories. I can’t decide which I prefer. Do I have to?
2. The Heart of Stone (review) by Ben Galley – Mymost recent read, and one of my favourites, you could consider this a character-driven military fantasy with a non-human main character (a golem!) who could teach others what it is to be human. There is also a running commentary on the horrors and insanity of war, as our heroes slowly make their way through a war torn landscape.
3. Alone (review) by Michael Chaboutė – My little Goodreads review doesn’t begin to do this graphic novel justice, The black and white artwork is sublime, the story, despite the lack of words is compelling and strums your emotional guitar. If you read one graphic novel in your life, make it this one.
4. The Gutter Prayer (review) by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan – A dark gothic fantasy in a world that chills the bones, This is the polar opposite of high fantasy, but is glorious with it’s bonkers menagerie of monsters, heroes who struggle to find their purpose, and insane gods that threaten the city in which the story is set. Saint Aleena is one of my new favourite fantasy characters.
5. A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World (review) by CA Fletcher – This is a post-apocalyptic adventure unlike any you’ve read before. THere are no zombies, no dystopian society, no aliens. In fact, there are hardly any humans, just a vast empty world. Griz, the hero, sets off to rescue his dog from a thief with his other dog in tow, and finds far more than he bargained for. This a tale of family and loyalty, and you may not read another book like this for years.  

So, I’m convinced the last two may be by my favourite books at the end of the year two, but I have some gems on my TBR that could threaten them. Time will tell.